The Blonde Boy

Niall Horan has just moved to Seattle and is utterly lost in this new world. His mum and dad fight constantly, his sister has an abusive boyfriend, and he can't escape the madness going on in his new home. That is, until he meets Peyton.

Peyton LaCosta has lived in Seattle her whole life. She seems to have everything in life she's ever wanted- amazing friends, loving parents, and not to mention a great home life. Yet even with everything she has, she feels completely lonely. That is, until she meets Niall.

2. Acid and Beakers

I arrive at school with no caffeine buzz, which will probably lead to me sleeping in class. I head for the chemistry lab and hope for the best. I walk in and head for my seat and wait for Mr. Bell to give us instructions on the lab. Sadly, I was the odd number out in the class and had to sit alone. He describes our experiment and I begin by taking one beaker full of acid and transferring it to another beaker with a suspicious green liquid in it. I swiftly snap my head up when I hear a familiar voice coming from the front of the room.

Mr. Bell grabs our attention with a clap of his hands and says in a loud voice, "Class, this is our new exchange student from Ireland. His name is Niall." My mouth nearly drops open as Niall looks around the room and spots me.

"Hi," he says quietly to the class, and I can see from the corner of my eyes that girls have turned to each other and whispered softly about him into each others' ears. Mr. Bell hands Niall some papers and points to the empty seat next to mine. I blush, realizing I was wearing giant safety goggles, then Niall walks over to my lab table. He smiles.

"Long time no see, yeah?" He chuckles, pulling out his stool and sitting down. I nod, smiling back at him. "So.. what exactly are we doing?" He asks, completely confused.

"Well, you just have to pour this green stuff into here," I said pointing to another large beaker, this time filled with blue liquid. "and then some type of reaction is supposed to happen." He nods and carefully grabs the beaker out of my hand, pouring the green into the blue. Apparently the blue one was too close to the edge of the desk, because the next thing I knew I felt a searing acidic pain on my thigh. I look down to see a hole burning through my jeans.

"Peyton!" Mr. Bell screams. "The shower!" He points to the emergency shower in the corner of the room and pushes me towards it. He locks me in and pulls a lever, allowing freezing cold liquid to pour all around me. It soothes the pain in my leg and leaves me soaking wet. Meanwhile Niall is frozen in his chair, staring at me in shock. Mr. Bell opens the shower door and I step out, water pouring out from my clothing onto the floor. Everyone just stares as I'm handed a towel. I squeeze the water out of my clothes as I wrap it around me and sit back down next to Niall, shock still smeared all over his face.

"You have absolutely no idea how sorry I am," He whispers, afraid of my reply.

"It's okay Niall, really. Don't worry about it." He just shakes his head.

"No, Peyton. It's not." He points to the hole in my jeans, revealing my blistering red skin. I gasp as I feel the pain come back.

"It's okay, I can handle it." He frowns, looking down at his notebook.

"Guess I'm kinda prone to spilling things." He gets red and I just giggle. As our conversation continues I notice that everyone else has started their experiments again. Mr. Bell comes to us and tells us we don't have to, and that Niall can escort me to the office to go home if I'd like.

Niall and I walk out of the room, heading towards the office. I call my mom and tell her I'll be on my way home and Niall walks me to my car.

"Look, I'm sorry." He says again. "I really need to stop being so clumsy.." He blushes and opens my door for me. "You sure you're okay driving home?" I nod and say goodbye to the beautiful blonde, driving away as a frown sweeps across his face.